Chad uses national biometric registry to boost govt systems interoperability

Chad’s Ministry of Finance, Budget, Economy, Planning and International Cooperation recently concluded a deal with the National Agency for Secure Documents (ANATS) to strengthen interoperability of its services as part of the country’s digital government pursuits.

Signed a few days ago in the capital N’Djamena, the agreement aims to facilitate real-time data sharing, based on the national biometric database, to enhance transparency in administrative operations and financial management, ANATS announced.

Other key objectives of the interoperability initiative are to streamline identity verification and authentication by preventing fraud and identity theft, as well as strengthen digital trust in line with Chad’s 2030 digital transformation strategy.

Apart from the Ministry of Finance, the Chadian government hopes to have many government ministries and agencies integrate their services with the national biometric registry which the country intends to make the single source of truth for all identification purposes.

Africa 24 TV quotes government sources as saying that Chad has invested an estimated XAF15 billion, approximately US$26.1 million, in the last few years, to build and strengthen the biometric registry, and make it the major pillar of the Central African nation’s digital transformation agenda. Part of the investment includes the production of secure identity documents and the upgrade of important basic digital infrastructure

The Director General of ANATS, Youssouf Gorou Tchaby, emphasized the necessity of the partnership: “This system, designed for interoperability, is an essential lever. All administrations, both public and private, will be able to connect to it to verify and authenticate identity,” he said, as quoted.

Tchaby also mentioned that apart from government structures, private sector entities can also integrate the national biometric registry for identity verification and authentication as well as for access to credit, which is one way of enhancing private sector-supported economic growth.

Saleh Abakar Zene, deputy director general in charge of the Budget and Digitalization at the Ministry of Finance, said the collaboration shows that the Chadian government’s push towards a fully digital government is not an abstract concept.

He stated that the move is actually built “through concrete decisions, useful partnerships, courageous reforms, and coherent actions,” one of which is their engagement with ANATS. The country is ranked very low on the UN’s digital government development index.

Chad is implementing an economic transformation strategy Tchad Connexion 2030 which has digital technology at its core.

According to the plan, the country intends to invest around $1.5 billion by 2030 on ICT infrastructure and digital services, with some of the goals being to have at least 80 percent national internet coverage, about 80 percent mobile penetration rate and promote inclusion with about 2.5 million Chadians to be taken out of poverty through digital-enabled services in the next five years.

Already, Chad is taking steps towards digital inclusion with the issuance of biometric ID cards to refugees with Idemia biometrics technology. Recently, ANATS also announced the reception of some biometric enrollment equipment from the UNHCR to facilitate its inclusive ID push.

Chad is also hoping to strengthen its digital cooperation efforts in the implementation of the 2030 digital transformation plan.

Article Topics

Africa  |  Agence Nationale Des Titres Sécurisés  |  biometrics  |  Chad  |  civil registration  |  digital government  |  digital identity  |  Tchad Connexion 2030